• Individualism. Urgency. Scarcity. Competition. Certainty. Control. When we use these narratives to define the philanthropic practices we engage in, we create and embody myths that constrain our imagination and limit what it is possible for us to achieve.
• We can change the narratives that shape philanthropy by rejecting the myth of disempowerment we are told, identifying areas where we have the capacity to make autonomous decisions, and practising narratives that prefigure the world we long for and deserve.
• By working together in expansive, intersectional, and complementary ways that de-silo issues, identities, and places, we co-create ways of thinking and being that reflect narratives we want, such as solidarity, abundance, and care.

• To be competent partners in narrative power building, philanthropy needs greater exposure to and understanding of narrative strategies that have been developed and are led by communities in the Majority World.
• To avoid reproducing harmful asymmetries and colonial structures in the global narrative ecosystem, funders must be cautious about prioritising familiar narrative approaches that have been devised and popularised by groups in places with the greatest proximity to social and financial capital.

• We’re all already funding narrative work whether or not we have a dedicated funding stream for it.
• Funders can overcome their hesitation around intentionally resourcing narrative strategies by being part of a community of practice that supports us to hear first-hand from each other about the funding approaches that do and don’t work, as well as engage in collective learning experiments that are driven by narrative practitioners and movement leaders.
• Spaces that facilitate knowledge exchange, peer support, and strategic alignment can also be an accountability mechanism when relationships are cultivated with trust and shared purpose, and the space is held thoughtfully.

Chiara K. Cattaneo is a co-lead of Elemental, an emerging community of practice for funders that seek to cultivate the conditions to resource narrative power. She has co-designed and implemented transnational, multi-stakeholder initiatives with grassroots organisations, INGOs, and philanthropy, and engaged extensively in advocacy that is focused on migration and modern slavery in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. She currently works with nonprofit organisations and private foundations to build strategic capacities, develop accountability, and sustain meaningful dialogue across these ecosystems. Email Chiara.

Mandy Van Deven is also a co-lead of Elemental and the founder of Both/And Solutions, a global consulting collective that draws on professional expertise and lived experience to provide strategic advice to individual wealth holders and philanthropic institutions, enable organisational and field learning, and design and implement funding initiatives that advance gender, racial, economic, and climate justice. She is on the boards of Puentes, a network that builds the narrative power of social movements across Latin America, and Thousand Currents, which aims to mobilise $250 million to frontline communities and grassroots movements in the Global South over the next decade. Email Mandy.